Todd Holt

Todd Holt

Todd Holt SWIFT CURRENT BRONCOS (1989 to 1994)

Todd grew up in Alameda, SK and lived just two houses away from his shrine, the Alameda Community Rink. At the young age of 4 years old, Todd first stepped on the ice and, despite being scared, gradually learned to love being on his skates and it wasn’t long before you’d never see him away from the ice. From that point on Todd had a hockey stick in his hands 24 hours a day with his mom claiming he even slept with it by his side.

A regular at street hockey, Todd used to love the small town atmosphere that Alameda offered. Not only did you always have enough of your closest friends to make two full teams, you’d never have your game interrupted by traffic.

In 1979, 6 year old Todd Holt joined his first team, the Alameda Legion who would later be known as the Alameda Rink Rats. It wasn’t long after playing for his first team that Todd realized he was a natural goal scorer. He remembers games where he would score 19 of his teams 24 goals and surpassed the 200 goal plateau in one of his seasons.

He spent most of his time playing on teams with kids his own age; however, would often be asked other older groups to join their teams. In 1981, Todd was asked to play in the older age group for a league tournament where he, despite only coming up to the other player’s knees, was the tournament’s top scorer and eventual Most Valuable Player.

In 1984, Todd joined his first “A” team at the age of 11 when a man named Terry Kurzon noticed the small, gritty forward in Alameda. Just two years later at the age of 13, Todd won a league championship playing AA Peewee hockey and would win another league championship the next year while playing Bantam hockey in Hartney, MB.

It was the 1985 season that Todd first began to gather momentum as an elite hockey player. Playing Bantam “AA” hockey in Estevan, Todd led his team to league and provincial championship status and advanced to the Western Purolator Cup in Brandon, MB where he was the tournament’s top scorer and MVP. During that season he recorded 125 goals, 78 assists, and 248 penalty minutes in just 61 games and became one of the highest touted bantam players in Western Canada.

Holt joined the Swift Current Broncos for the 1989-90 season after the team had won their Memorial Cup Championship the year prior. Thanks to a 3 goal and 3 assist performance in the Broncos blue and white game, Holt was named a member of the team. As a rookie in the Western Hockey League he finished the year with 63 games played with 26 goals and 22 helpers for 48 points and 29 penalty minutes. The following year he emerged as one of the most popular players the team had ever seen. While seeing success on the ice with 47 goals and 27 assists, he also saw success off the ice and was named the Fan’s Most Popular Player. Holt would own the award for the next 4 seasons, the only Bronco to ever win the fan voted award 4 times. The 1991/92 season saw Holt repeat his 47 goal performance while also adding 54 assists, breaking the 100 point plateau for the 1st time in his Western Hockey League career. He proved himself as a feisty forward that year, recording a career high 155 penalty minutes.

It was 1992/93 that Todd and his teammates will remember the most. An all-star line-up led by Holt and teammates Rick Girard and Jason Krywulak would advance all the way to the Memorial Cup after finishing the regular season off with a 49-21-2 record. Todd finished the season 3rd in team and 6th in league scoring with 56 goals and 57 assists and was named the team’s King of the Road that season. He played a key role in the team’s run for WHL supremacy with 10 goals and 12 assists in 16 playoff games. In the following summer, Todd was drafted by the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks as a 19 year old in the 8th round, 184th overall.

Todd returned to the Broncos as an overage player in 1993/94. It was in his 20 year old season that he re-wrote the Broncos record books. Despite appearing in just 56 games, Todd still managed to reach 40 goals for the 4th straight season and finished the year with 87 points (40G; 47A). He then closed off his junior hockey career in style by scoring 11 goals and 7 assists in just 7 playoff games before the team was eventually eliminated by the Saskatoon Blades in the 2nd round.

After graduating from the WHL, Holt would continue playing hockey for another 7 years. He spent time with the Kansas City Blades (IHL), Fresno Falcons (WCHL), and Birmingham Bulls (ECHL) before heading overseas to play in Heilbronn, Germany at the age of 25. He then went on to play in Kapfenberg, Austria in 1999 and played 27 games where he recorded 43 goals and 38 assists. It was in Kapfenberg that Todd set his final hockey record when he scored 12 goals and 8 assists for 20 points in a single game; all three were new league records. Todd hung up the skates for the final time at the age of 27 to spend more time with his two sons but still enjoys the game of hockey with various Senior teams. He most recently played with the Horse Lake Thunder where he had the privilege of skating alongside his long time idol Theoron Fleury.

Todd would retire a Swift Current Bronco following the 1993/94 season but returned to the Centennial Civic Centre ice for the team’s home opener on September 24th, 2005. He finished his Broncos career with franchise records in goals (216) and points (423). At the time, he was also the franchises leader in games played with 321.

Todd was born on January 20th, 1973 to Bill and Vicky Holt in Oxbow, SK. Todd had three older siblings in Darlene (Husband: Murray – Kids: Derek, Jennifer, Clayton), Kip (Wife: Annette – Kids: Peyton, Whitney), and Karla (Husband: Murray – Kids: Sheridan, Brody, Dylan, Morgan). Todd has a fiancée in Rachelle Lougheed as well as two kids of his own. Taysen David William Holt is 13 years old while Kaelen Todd Holt is 9 years old and both play hockey just like their dad – small but not shy! Holt thanks the love of his life, his Grandmother Helen Holt, for inspiring his entire hockey career.

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